Indian dentists guilty of slitting daughter and servant's throats

A judge found an Indian dentist couple guilty on Monday of slitting the throats of their teenage daughter and a domestic servant after a murder trial that obsessed India for years, a lawyer said.

“They have been found guilty of murder. They have been found guilty of the destruction of evidence,” Manoj Kumar Rai, who was inside the court to hear the judge’s verdict, told reporters.

Rajesh and Nupur Talwar were charged with killing Aarushi, 14, and Nepalese employee Hemraj Banjade by slitting their throats “with clinical precision” at their home in an affluent New Delhi suburb in 2008.

The couple burst into tears when judge Shyam Lal read out the verdict in a packed court room in Ghaziabad, a city just outside the capital.

“We are deeply disappointed, hurt and anguished for being convicted for a crime that we have not committed. We refuse to feel defeated and will continue to fight for justice,” the Talwars said in a written statement given to reporters outside.

The couple face life in prison and possibly the death penalty when the judge hands down his sentence on Tuesday.